When it comes to running a business, tools are an absolute necessity. It doesn’t matter if you are talking about sales, e-mails, or SEO; you need powerful weapons to compete. Anything less is like fighting a modern war with rocks and sticks; you simply don’t stand a chance.

While having an arsenal of tools at your disposal is fantastic, it isn’t necessary to wield scads of them. What you really need is a handful of robust instruments that you can automate to handle tasks while you focus your energy on other, yet equally important, endeavors.

If you’re still on the hunt for some stellar automation tools, then look no further. Here are four mighty mechanisms to amplify your business efforts.

1. GetResponse

GetResponse has been around since 1998 and, in that time, has built a recognizable and reputable name in the realm of e-mail automation. Recently, however, the company has opted to fill a void in the “all-in-one marketing solution” space by expanding its offerings, and targeting them toward SMBs.

Up until this point, platforms like Infusionsoft, Hubspot, and Marketo have ruled the niche, yet left smaller business owners out in the cold due to their high price points. Others like iContact, Mailchimp and AWeber are more affordable but lack the features needed to gain a comprehensive view of workflows and effectiveness.

GetResponse provides SMBs with a plethora of extremely useful and easy-to-use tools to build and manage marketing efforts at an enterprise level for a fraction of the cost. The platform touts a webinar tool, an outstanding landing page builder, and of course, stellar e-mail marketing and auto responder services. Additionally, drag-and-drop workflows makes generating campaigns quick and easy while various eCommerce features help to track sales and regain shoppers who abandon their carts.

GetRespose is the all-in-one marketing tool that small business owners have been waiting for.

2. Hootsuite

No marketing campaign is complete without a plethora of social elements and messages. That’s where Hootsuite comes to play.

As one of the most recognizable names in social automation, Hootsuite is an exceptional choice for any SMB to employ. The Pro plan is modestly priced and provides an abundance of features and resources to leverage for up to 50 social profiles. The service’s social dashboard is streamlined with a clean layout that features tools, product controls and other services in an accessible slide-out menu; this allows new users to gain their bearings fairly quickly. Automate social posts for immediate publication or save them for a later time or date. Hootsuite allows you to automate your social channels for maximum effectiveness.

The company’s comprehensive analytics tool gives access to a series of visual elements, reports and metrics for various profiles from all of the major social networks. The control panel of this feature also supplies a library of different reporting templates, or you can slice the data in nearly anyway that you see fit. When it comes to social media automation, Hootsuite is top of the line.

3. Pardot by Salesforce

Aimed directly at B2B companies, Pardot pours its attention into lead management and sales amplification.

The service automates lead acquisition, nurturing, segmentation, and scoring while providing performance reporting so that weak areas of the process can be identified and fortified. On the flip side of that coin, the software also helps to recognize areas of success so that those aspects can be amplified.

Pardot also provides in-depth analytics reporting, paid search analysis, exceptional e-mail reporting, and a variety of other features that provide a clear picture of a company’s effectiveness. Additionally, Pardot integrates with various CRMs, supplies tools to gain consumer information from social media, and helps to generate, qualify, manage and distribute leads to the correct position in the sales funnel. Pardot by Salesforce is the perfect marketing automation tool for sales-oriented B2B small-to-medium sized enterprises.

4. Spokal

Content marketing campaigns are one of the most effective marketing modalities used today. If you need a bit of help in managing such an effort, there’s Spokal.

Spokal is a dynamic content marketing automation tool for WordPress users that allows for integration with social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, and can also accommodate various e-mail automation services.

This platform can help propagate content through automated social sharing and even helps drive traffic to older posts because it will systematically sprinkle more senior posts into the schedule.

As you develop new content, Spokal provides keyword research tools in which it will rank the phrases on their level of competition, supplies drag-and-drop Flickr images, and even touts image editing tools for your posts. As you write content, Spokal will provide real-time SEO advice to help your content rank higher in the SERPs, and ultimately help your webpage flourish.

The dashboard is easy to read and provides users with an overview of stats, your Moz rank, domain authority, and other pertinent information. And getting started with Spokal is easy; a comprehensive and friendly tutorial will introduce you to the features ad options.

To edge out, or at the very least compete, with your business rivals, you need to automate some tasks to avoid becoming overwhelmed and burning out. Tools like GetResponse and Spokal will allow you to be sharp and able to focus your efforts on a variety of tasks that will help you get head of the game. Employ these automation tools and take your business to the next level of productivity and success.

What automation tools do you use in your business? Which of these tools do you plan to implement in the near future?

Conscious online marketer, web executive, and multi-faceted writer Tina Courtney has been creating and fostering online innovations since 1996. Tina has assisted many clients in maximizing online production and marketing efforts, and is a staff writer for SiteProNews, one of the Web’s foremost webmaster and tech news blogs. She’s produced and marketed innovative content for major players like Disney and JDate, as well as boutique startups galore, with fortes including social media, SEO, influencer marketing, community management, lead generation, and project management. Tina is also a certified Reiki practitioner, herbalist, and accomplished life coach. Learn more on LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+.